Very nicely said. You obviously have alot of knowledge on this subject
matter. Anytime you would like to learn more or even tour a service bureau,
our door is open. We need more articles such as yours in as many magazines
as possible that are not related to RP. Thanks!

> Thanks for the help with this. I am myself a stickler for accuracy and
> always want to make sure that I get everything correct, so I appreciate
this
> e-mail, whatever its combustion temperature, very much.
>
> The events described in the article were accurately described. The
> terminology was the terminology that was used to me by people who are in a
> position to know, so I didn't question it.
>
> STL is often used as a generic abbreviation for stereolithography (check
the
> Internet), but I agree that it is only in the context of a file format. I
> should probably have used SLA or rapid prototyping machine. I think what
> happened is that I got caught up in the question of whether we can
generate
> an STL file, and if so, how. For me, an STL machine was therefore one that
> can print an STL file.
>
> In my own defense, I might argue that my usage was not so much incorrect
as
> unidiomatic. Neither, however, meets the ideal that you and I both have
for
> any article. Thanks for the catch.
>
> As far as the more substantive comments, let me take up the science
fiction
> question first. I have had a good relationship with the people at
> IBM/Dassault for several years. When we first bruited the question of
taking
> a shoe design in 2-D and printing it out on an SLA machine, they were so
> willing to persuade me of their capabilities in this area that they set up
a
> 2-hour conference call with a Dassault technical expert. For simplicity's
> sake, I used AutoCAD as an example, presented him with the problem, and
let
> him noodle about it. He said that they do in fact have programs to convert
> multiple 2D views to a single 3-D. He said that theoretically, the
drawings
> should convert perfectly, but that slight differences in specifications
> among the views might require some manual labor in order to get a single,
> consistent 3-D view. The tweaking is really just reconciling these slight
> differences.
>
> They were willing to do a demo (2D-->3D) for us on our 2-D AutoCAD
sketches,
> but (as you saw), we couldn't even get 2D drawings of a shoe. If what they
> told me is science fiction, well, I was snookered. But I was not
credulous.
> I spent a lot of time trying to understand exactly how this was done, and
> what he told me was detailed and consistent. If it were to turn out that
you
> were wrong and that Catia can in fact do what Dassault/IBM says it can do,
> don't you think you should reconsider the question of whether the article
> belongs in People rather than CIO?
>
> As far as the AutoCAD for the Mac is concerned, that may have been a
little
> fey on my part, or I may have just missed the audience's capabilities. I
> wanted to convey our thought processes, and since both the CIO and I think
> in terms of 2D or 3D and think of AutoCAD as the generic 2D drawing
program
> (and yes, I know it has 3D capabilities), I just used that as a stand-in
for
> any old 2D program. I figured my audience would not know or care whether
it
> was AutoCAD or some other 2D program that the designers were(n't) using
over
> there.
>
> AutoCAD on the Mac has had a checkered history. (See, for instance,
> www.architecturalcadd.com/autocadmac.html, which just pops up on Google,
> when I put in AutoCAD, Mac into the search engine.) But it is surely
> incorrect to say that no AutoCAD product has ever run on a Mac.
>
> You also say that my description of the rapid prototyping process is
> incorrect. That may be. The (color) shoe that was plopped on the CEO's
desk
> was made by a Z corporation machine, I believe. The explanation of how
these
> machines worked was given to me by people at 3D Systems. I may indeed have
> missed some nuances in the way various different machines work. All I can
> say is that I was abetted by Dassault, who told me that they could output
> the finished file to any of the rapid prototyping machines and that the
> capabilities were roughly similar.
>
> Naturally, I would love to learn what those nuances are; if you feel you
> have the time to educate me, rather than scorch me, please feel free to
give
> me a call any time.
>
> Thanks, by the way, for appreciating some of my nuances, even as I missed
> some of yours. I was indeed hoping to suggest that there may be something
> problematic about the labor practices (and customs practices) in China.
But
> remember, in this case, nobody died, and whatever the cruelty and
injustice
> to factory workers in China, it would have to be pretty terrible even to
> come close to matching what happened to the freed slaves in our own
country
> 100 years ago. In my story, nobody dies, and that's part of the point,
too.
>
> It's interesting that you accuse me of being a Luddite. Remember, I'm the
> guy who suggested using this technology in the first place. If I had
> succeeded, and if the poor Chinese whose jobs I was trying to take away
had
> been able to get to me, I would have been one of the first targets.
>
> Thanks for cc'ing me on the note.
>
>
> David N. Dobrin, Ph.D.
> President,
> B2B Analysts, Inc.
> 617 497 6399
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Charles Overy [mailto:cwho@lgmmodel.com]
> Sent: Friday, October 04, 2002 4:09 PM
> To: rp-ml@rapid.lpt.fi> Cc: david@b2banalysts.com; dduffy@cio.com> Subject: RE: Article in CIO magazine
>
>
> Hello all,
>
> whoosh -- hear that flame comming at you....
>
> Nice article except for the factual errors! I caught at least two.
>
> "who has so far outperformed a stereolithography (STL) machine. Have you
> ever seen one of these? It can take a virtual 3-D image from a software
> package such as Catia and put out a colored 3-D model made of plastic. The
> STL machine divides the 3-D image into thin layers and makes the model by
> laser printing layer after layer of plastic"
>
> - Not a very accurate description of any RP process that I have seen. It
> seems to be an amalgam of the Z Corp process (color), Stratasys (layers of
> plastic) , and 3D Systems SLA. Also, since when was the class of machines
> abbreviated with the file extension? This laxity maybe OK for casual
> journalism but it makes me treat the rest of the article as just that.
Not
> very well researched or thought out.
>
> "AutoCad and its myriad competitors were surely being used on all those
Macs
> over in design. "
> Again, to my knowledge, no AutoCad product has ever run on a Mac and not
> many direct competitors in 3D product design are there either.
>
> Next, can you really, "feed 2-D images into Catia and get an exact
rendering
> without too much manual tweaking" and if so what does a "rendering" have
to
> do with a watertight 3D polygon mesh export. If Catia can really create a
> good 3D model from 2D hand sketches without "too much" human intervention,
> then this is an achievement that I have not heard about. Personally I
doubt
> it, and it is this sort of statement that is particularly irritating. It
> over promises the integration of technology in the design process as a
> whole. Further it implies that the RP process get blamed when things
break
> down. If the authors statement is supposed to be that good people are
> needed in the design process, there is no debate bu there are more
accurate
> ways to convey this obvious truth.
>
> Finally, I think that the RP sales people need to find out who this shoe
> company is and leave their card. As the article points out, John Henry
DIED
> in the process of trying to beat the steam drill. I thought shoe
companies
> already had enough bad press for inspiring that sort of work environment
in
> their subcontractors.
>
> This article would have been OK if it had been in "People" or perhaps even
> "Gardening News" but in a zine presumably directed at Chief Information
> Officers of big companies is should try to get the technology parts close
to
> correct. I have included the editor and writer in this email, perhaps they
> would care to respond to the list. It certainly was an amusing read but
I
> have more than enough anti-technology drivel from neo-luddites in the
> architectural community to last me to the end of this year. Next year,
> we'll see...
> Best wishes to all
>
> Charles
> Dir of Eng.
> LGM
> www.lgmmodel.com,
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-rp-ml@rapid.lpt.fi [mailto:owner-rp-ml@rapid.lpt.fi]On
> Behalf Of Todd Grimm
> Sent: Friday, October 04, 2002 12:21 PM
> To: rp-ml@rapid.lpt.fi> Subject: Article in CIO magazine
>
>
> Sometimes it takes an outsider to clearly see what the RP industry faces
> as competitive pressures. In a slightly humorous article, CIO magazine
> illustrates the challenges that RP and collaboration tools face. Hope
> you enjoy it.
>
> http://www.cio.com/archive/100102/worldview.html>
>
> Todd Grimm
> 3028 Beth Ct.
> Edgewood, KY 41017
> Phone: (859) 331-5340
> Fax: (859) 331-5342
> Cell: (859) 240-0574
> Email: tgrimm1@insightbb.com>
>
>
> For more information about the rp-ml, see http://rapid.lpt.fi/rp-ml/>
>
>
>
>
>
> For more information about the rp-ml, see http://rapid.lpt.fi/rp-ml/>